Lonnie Sims is focused on continuing to improve Tulsa County’s infrastructure, a mission he began as a state representative.
Sims was sworn in as Tulsa County’s District 2 commissioner and subsequently voted chairman of the board. The former representative, a Republican, succeeds Democratic commissioner Karen Keith.
At the state level, Sims helped secure $50 million to improve the Tulsa area’s levee system, which was pushed almost to its breaking point in the 2019 Arkansas River flood.
Now as a commissioner, Sims wants to capitalize on the money he put toward fixing the levees.
“There’s probably no more critical project in Tulsa County than getting that levee repaired in areas that need to be, because it is critical infrastructure, and we have a lot of people, a lot of assets, at risk,” he said.
Sims also wants to improve transportation infrastructure in Tulsa County. He pointed to a 2021 state report that showed 85% of structurally deficient bridges in Oklahoma are under the management of counties.
"That’s a big lift that we’re going to be reaching out to our state partners to see if we can get them involved in, more supported, to see if we can help knock out some of these higher-priority deficient bridges that we have in the county. And that will help offset some of the cost that we have for infrastructure needs,” he said.
Sims said the county needs good roads and bridges as more people move to Oklahoma and use them. Oklahoma had the 12th highest net migration rate in the country from 2020 to 2023.
